Adelaide founders Arielle Lopresti and Teegan Cocchiaro started their business 10 years ago, in 2016, while also starting their own families. To mark the occasion we went down to their beautiful Sydney showroom and asked them a bit about how they managed those early years, what makes them proud, their design process and what’s next for Lo & Co.
Arielle and Teegan in their Sydney showroom
I want to start from the beginning. How did Lo & Co come about?
[Teegan] We always knew we wanted to do something together and something creative and it was definitely in the interior space. We found ourselves buying hardware from overseas because we couldn't find the finishes and the exact pieces that we wanted in Australia. So we just thought, let's have a go at designing a couple of things and now here we are.
And you started with young children, right? I'm not gonna be delusional and ask how you found balance, but if there was something that you felt really helped you get through that period of building a business and building a family at the same time, what would that be?
[Arielle] The fact that we had each other was probably, in my opinion, the most helpful thing because we could back each other up. We were going through the same things at the same time. We would have our children with us, feeding them and putting them to sleep. It was actually a blessing in disguise because I feel like otherwise, as a mum, you are a bit isolated, but we had each other. So we were lucky in that sense because we got to share the journey of motherhood as well as building a business at the same time.
I love that. I ask that very selfishly because we're in the same situation. We’re early in our business and it's hard to do both (family and business) at the same time.
[Arielle] It is. I mean, literally we were packing orders at night and had the baby monitors there next to us. It was chaos. But we had each other to do it with. So we didn't feel like we were doing it alone.
“Launching in America and being present in New York and LA, that was kind of like a pinch me moment.”
Over the last 10 years, what have been the biggest highlights?
[Teegan] Opening this store in Sydney and our showroom in Adelaide.
[Arielle] Launching in America and being present in New York and LA, that was kind of like a pinch me moment. But also building our team to what it is today. We have 30 plus staff members and that makes me go, wow. We've come from just us two, to having a full team who have helped us grow into what we are today. So that's been amazing.
For Al Dente, your collection with Tali Roth, you made the moulds by hand with clay before they were sandcast. Are you always that hands-on in the design process?
[Teegan] We keep the design process between just the two of us. And obviously with collaborations, they will come to us with a full concept of what they want to achieve. And then it's back and forth in terms of getting the final designs.
But when we are doing sand casting, It's the old school technique of creating brass hardware, we always moulded it ourself from clay to get the form perfect. And then from there, we will take it to the factory to create the moulds ready for casting.
[Arielle] We seek the finishes that we love and then explore how we can make that work. So we are very involved in that initial design process because we know what we want the piece to look like. We had to explore like different techniques and how to make those organic shapes. Sand casting became a good technique for that particular design.
You've got a team of 30, but you remain the main designers. Is that the part that you love the most?
[Arielle] Oh yeah, absolutely. That's the part of the job that probably gives me the most joy. I still get butterflies in my tummy every time I see a new design or we unpack a box from our manufacturers. So that definitely is the most special part.
I read your piece in RUSSH that came out about the objects you can't live without. I noticed two main themes, one being that you buy things made to last and the other being that you are attracted to objects that balance design and function. How do you find that balance between design and function?
“If it doesn’t function, then there’s no purpose, there’s no point in it.”
[Teegan] This is the back and forth process with us designing products. We come up with these ideas, but we've probably released one or two pieces in the past that didn't functionally work as well as we would have liked them to. Being such a commonly used element in a home or in a space, it's got to function well. So we need it to look beautiful, but also be functional.
[Arielle] If it doesn't function, then there's no purpose, there's no point in it.
[Teegan] But also it’s part of good design really, especially in this space is if you can design something that looks beautiful, but then is so easy and nice to use, that becomes part of the design process really.
[Arielle] As we've become a bit more clever and a little bit more knowledgeable about function and the way that people like to use hardware, then I think we've been able to join the two together quite well. And find that balance.
So functionality is a must for Lo & Co product but perhaps in your personal life you can lean towards design a bit more?
[Arielle] Yeah, exactly. And we can go crazy. My husband will probably question, why did I buy that rug? But I'm like, it looks good.
You design something tactile that people touch everyday and you love beautiful objects, perfumes, notebooks etc. What is it about the physical world that the digital world just can't compete with?
[Teegan] When you like see something beautiful and you can feel it or you can like smell something. It gives you kind of that joy that I don't think digital can.
[Arielle] It touches all senses, not just the visual sense, you know, like Teegan said, the smell, the feel. Just the way it makes you feel, nothing beats that. Picking up a Lo & Co piece, you feel the weight of it, you feel how heavy it feels, you feel the quality, and that is so important because that is that durable piece that will stand the test of time. You can't replicate that in the digital world.
So what's next for Lo & Co?
[Teegan] We are about to launch into some new, whole new categories, which will be exciting. They will be coming out towards the end of the year. We are experimenting with different products and different materials.
[Arielle] I think the beauty of like hitting the 10 year mark and being around for so long now is that we can push the boundaries a bit and be a little bit more experimental now that people know about our brand a bit more. We will continue to expand our range but have honed into things that we love and things that we feel resonate with us and our design purpose. The next year or so should hopefully open up some new product categories for us and see Lo & Co push the boundaries a little bit. It's very exciting.
Congratulations on 10 years. And thank you so much for chatting to us.
